Central regions | Technology & innovation | Retail, FMCG

Russia’s mobile games market shows nine-fold three-year increase

29 Jul '14

Experts at Mail.ru Group and Newzoo have assessed the mobile games market in Russia and compared gamers from a variety of countries. According to the analysts, the volume of the mobile games market in Russia grew more than nine times between 2010 and 2013, reported East-West Digital News, the first all English-language online resource dedicated to Russian digital industries.

Last year, it amounted to $165m—a dramatic rise from $18m in 2010, the analysts underscored.

“Any increase in the mobile games market is traditionally attributed to a growing number of smartphones and tablet PCs. However, a developing interest by mobile platforms to increase the quantity of games, the enablement of new APIs, the providing of advanced technology, etc., are also contributing factors,” noted Vasily Maguryan, head of the Mail.ru Group’s IT-Territory studio.

Today, 33.8 million people—79% of all gamers—play mobile games in Russia, according to market research and analysis company Newzoo. In the United States, the proportion of mobile players is slightly higher at 83%, while in China and South Korea, 96% and 93% of gamers, respectively, use mobile devices.

Russian mobile gamers make in-game payments and most rarely pay for games (28%), while more than half of gamers do so in China, 45% do so in the U.S., and 34% in South Korea. Koreans play the most, with 34% of them playing more than five times a week.

Men and women are represented almost equally among gamers in the countries examined. However, in Russia, 58% of gamers are male, unlike the U.S., where the difference is minimal.